In 2003, Avraham Burg, long among the leaders of the Labor party, wrote a scathing attack on Israel. The piece was first published in Yediot Ahronot, then in the Forward, then in The Guardian and the International Herald Tribune, and finally all around Europe and even the Arab world.

According to Burg, Israel "rests on a scaffolding of corruption," is controlled by "lawbreakers" and is "a state lacking justice."